Lacey sits on the edge of her bed, trying to muster up the energy to reply to one of Prentiss’s twenty emails. Only her mind is on her conversation with Seth. She can’t believe he’s talking about leaving the Brothers Kincaid. Luke would go ballistic. Sal, too. He’s their family, and his leaving would hurt all the way around. It would be unfathomable.
But she understands what he was trying to do. Get out before they got hurt. She could see the pain in his eyes. Wondering where he belongs, worrying over his mistakes. She yearned to tell him he’s a good person. That Luke’s proud of him, loves him, but when she went to say that, she clammed up instead.
Lacey rubs her hands over her face. God, why does she pull away from everything? Why can’t she be more like Sal? Not surviving life, but living it. Open and loving with friends and family. Enjoying her time on this earth and not working herself into a frenzy.
Because who knows how much time she has left?
It’s her greatest fear. Dying alone, dying young, dying of cancer like her mother. Without time. Without someone by her side to hold her hand. To tell her they love her. But having all that requires getting close to someone, and having a relationship is like a grab bag of awful possibilities. Never knowing what she’ll get. A serial cheater like her father? Or heartbreak like Sal? Her sister and Luke are soulmates who have come so close to losing each other too many times. Lacey couldn’t bear it. Never.
Which is why she’s steered clear of long-term relationships. There were a few boyfriends years ago, but Lacey always called it quits before they could. Jumped ship before it got too serious. Men, like friends, are scarce.
Still, sometimes she wishes she could love things without worrying, without wondering when her heart would break. When they’d leave.
Which is what Seth needs to do.
Leave.
She’s done a good job at controlling her relationship with Seth. Enemies. Then friends until sex. But now he’s in her space, and her emotions are all over the place. She knows she told him no more, but those warm feelings from Nashville have dug in their claws and aren’t letting loose. Seth being so nice to her doesn’t help either. Earlier tonight, his expression so fierce, hands so gentle as he changed her bandage. The loads of food he brought home from the grocery store, like he had never shopped a day in his life, but he was glad to do it. For her.
Lacey groans, shaking her head to chase away thoughts of Seth Kincaid.
She needs him out of here. Stat.
She has too much baggage for Seth, anyway. A long-term, serious relationship would mean she has to show him the real her. Her eyes close. God. What would he think about her past? All her bad habits. He’d be disgusted, wouldn’t he? He wouldn’t understand. Sometimes she barely does herself.
Setting her phone on her nightstand, Lacey climbs into bed, leaving the lamp on.
She isn’t ready for the dark. To relive last night. A shudder ripples through her body as the mugger’s face edges into her brain space.
Needing comfort, calm, Lacey reaches up for her necklace.
Only it’s gone.
Her eyes fill with hot tears.
A sob erupts and she presses both hands to her mouth, last night closing in around her like a scream.
She buries her face in a pillow and sobs, not wanting Seth to hear, to have a front-row seat to her unraveling.
Stop.
Please stop.
Seth lies on the couch, staring at the cracked ceiling, unable to sleep. The sandwich has settled heavily in his stomach. He’s coming down with something. Man, if he gets sick out here in the land of sunshine and bullshit, Luke will never let him live it down.
But he doesn’t think that’s the reason he’s feeling so horrible. He thinks it’s Lacey.
His thoughts move to tonight. Lacey’s hand in his. That slow curl of his stomach. That girl’s a goddamn hurricane, driving him fucking nuts, and even though he tells himself he doesn’t like her like that, he’s not so sure he believes himself anymore.
Now he’s paying the price. Being here in LA with her, close quarters, has him thinking about her in a different way. In a he wants to be around her all the time kind of way.
Before the night of that kiss, he never even entertained the notion of them being something more, of getting together. For a variety of reasons. Because she was Sal’s sister. Because Lacey lived in LA. Because he was lying to himself. But now, now ...
Hell, he doesn’t fucking know.
It’s bullshit is what it is. He’s a grown man agonizing over an incredibly hot, incredibly dangerous, sharp-tongued woman. Not to mention, she was mugged. His priority is keeping her safe, not wondering whether she’s been thinking about him as much as he’s been thinking about her.
Jesus. He smears his face in his hands. He needs to pull it together. Get back to Nashville and start singing again.